The "lift-out" technique has numerous qualities that make it attractive to industry requiring TEM analysis. The
total fabrication time for a site specific TEM specimen by this method is on the order of hours. For traditional FIB
TEM specimens, the time is much longer. Of course the speed of fabrication is strongly dependent on material
composition, and the geometry of the bulk sample; however, due to the fact that large amounts of ion milling time are
eliminated using the lift-out method, it will always be a more rapid means of getting a TEM specimen from a bulk
substrate. The final size of the electron transparent cross-section varies, but can be as large as 150 square
microns to as small as 45 microns squared. For semiconductor clients, it also means that a TEM specimen can
be manufactured from a specific area while leaving the rest of the die intact, which has advantages for failure
analysis or design debugging.
If you would like more information about the "lift-out" technique and its application to the
semiconductor industry, please do not hesitate to
contact us
for more details.
